A Pathetic Decision
by Issun the Wandering Writer
Summary: For most of the SOF it was a routine mission, destroy the Vodarac resistance operating at Ciudades del Cielo, for one of them however it was where they would have to make a terrible choice and set the world on a much different path. AU


Author's note: So I always found the SOF part of Eureka's backstory really interesting, most shows would not have the love interest committing war crimes E7's pretty unique in that regard, anyway one of the points of this story was to get into Eureka's head during that time and try to explain the reason she spared the three kids the other point well you'll see. Also a warning this is gonna get pretty dark, that M rating is their for a reason.

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I feel Nirvash shake and collapse as an explosive device connects with it, I use the controls to move Nirvash to eliminate the insurgents but he will not move, one of the insurgents must have scored a lucky hit.

It does not matter, I have been trained for such situations, I grab the machine gun from the compartment and open the cockpit's mechanism, I get up and stand in the open cockpit and see my objectives, they seem to think I have been incapacitated.

They are wrong, I aim and depress the trigger and they fall as my bullets connect. Finally my clip runs dry and I stare at the hills of corpses while reloading, I recall the words at the briefing, make sure nothing survives, the terrorists will try any amount of trickery. I could not have killed them all with a single clip, some must be hiding or wounded, I will finish the mission.

I jump down and check the corpses for signs of life, at the slightest twitch or gasp I fire. Some beg for mercy but that is not part of my mission parameters.

Suddenly I hear the sound of something small coming from a large pile of the objectives, I walk over training my gun over the source of the strange noise and kicked the objective covering the sound away.

I had expected a new weapon but this was something different, I believe it was what the Beams had often talked about, children three of them one blonde and female the other two were boys, one black with a bleeding head wound and a white one that looked the oldest, they were all leaking fluids from their eyes and shaking and one of them was looking at me like it was … afraid?

I then notice some of the larger bodies that share a strange resemblance to the small things, the similarity made me recall something I thought I had forgotten.

" _I have children and I need to protect them and their future's"_ Those were Adroc's Thurston's final words, the last thing he ever taught me before he … disappeared.

These were Adroc's children, the one's he sacrificed himself to protect and I was about to end them, yet I was using the Nirvash to serve and protect the government just as he did that day. Such a confusing situation, no orders, no clear route to take, what do I do?

I let my gun fall to the ground, it is a tactically sound decision, the young humans are seemingly harmless, it would be a waste of bullets to eliminate them, that is what I tell myself. But the truth is I feel something, something awful.

Then I hear the sound of a rifle shot and the feeling becomes much worse, my senses explode with pain as I feel something small and hot burrowing its way into my innards and then ripping out of my front side, I hear the follow-up sound of a female screaming I am unsure if it is me or the little one, it hurts too much to tell.

I feel the strength leave my legs and I collapse onto my stomach, I clench my teeth, try to remember my training, to ignore the agony and find my assailant.

Craning my neck backwards I see the Voderac terrorist holding the rifle that shot me, I also see some bullet wounds on his left leg, so I did not miss him I simply did not hit anything vital.

He is also walking towards me, I look back towards the gun I foolishly dropped and reached for it with my left hand but before I can a boot stomps on my hand causing another burst of pain. I scream again, he laughs.

He looms over me sneering "I hope that hurts little killer" before turning to the children, lifting them up to him as they huddle towards him, turning back to me he aims the rifle at me intending to finish me off then he hesitates "I could do that, but a military dog like you deserves a slower death, lets go kids before more people like her arrive" he then steals my gun before limping off into the distance with the children clinging onto him.

A military dog? Is that what I am? Just a trained animal let loose on the federation's enemies, wait death! What did he mean by that? Am I really going to- no no of course I won't, such a wound may be fatal to a human but I am not, I will be fine. The difficulty of breathing must be from the low oxygen in these caverns.

I may not die but I do require medical assistance, looking towards the wound, I see a lot of blood, red just like these terrorists I killed. I will not end up like them.

I left the communicator inside Nirvash's cockpit, I just need to reach it, contact the commander and this pain will end. I try to put my remaining strength into standing up, my feet almost slip on the growing pool of my own blood, but I eventually get onto my two feet.

I slowly stumble towards Nirvash, my right arm pressed against my lower torso in an attempt to stop the flow of blood, its strange how similar it is to humans, just like many parts of me, human but not at the same time.

I reach merely five steps before I collapse again, gravel and rocks hitting my wound causing me to cry out, I guess I must crawl like an animal, a military dog as the terrorist put it.

As I claw my way through the dirt to Nirvash I wonder if I had simply shot the children would I still be forced to endure this? would I have been able to stop that terrorist? It doesn't matter, Regardless of any second thoughts this agony is still here.

As I continue my slow crawl to Nirvash I began to feel my body becoming colder, perhaps my uniform wasn't the best choice for this climate, yes that must be the answer, what else could it be?

Finally I reach Nirvash my hands sore and bleeding, I feel relief through the pain, my only companion in this strange world, if I am with him I will surely be safe.

I slowly climb up his arm, and collapse into the pilot's seat, my breathing ragged. I look back on the way I came and immediately cringe wishing I didn't, a long trail of blood stretches from Nirvash's left shoulder to the pile of bodies, I have lost a lot more than I thought, Corallian's maybe different from humans but we still need blood to survive.

Perhaps that is why I feel so, before I can finish my thought the communicator begins beeping, Holland must be trying to contact me, it could only be Holland.

"Eureka!, Eureka respond already!, the situation's changed I need to know where you are right now!"

Finally rescue at reach, I close my shaking hands over the communicator, before I can turn it on however a strange thought comes to me out of the blue.

If I contacted Holland and informed him of my location wouldn't he come across those children on the way into the caves and inevitably as our mission dictates eliminate them.

Or I could not contact him, accept the monk's orders and die slowly, I can no longer ignore what's happening to me, the inability to control my hands, the growing weakness, and the cold its so cold now, colder than it should be at this time of year.

As if to affirm my thoughts, I feel the flow of something hot and metallic climbing up my throat and when it flows out my mouth making me choke and gag it becomes something awfully familiar.

I grab the communicator as fast as I can, this cannot go on, I raise it to my mouth before throwing it out of the cockpit, I regret it before it even hits the ground and shatters.

Why did I do that? Why consign myself to this awful fate? For the children I barely knew anything about? Nothing will stop what's coming now. My fate is sealed.

Before it was just difficult to breathe now every breath hurts. "N-Nirvash did I do the r-right thing?" he doesn't respond. Maybe he doesn't know what to say.

I'm not ready to go yet, I still don't understand much of anything, I'm so scared, just just like those children, perhaps that's why I let them go.

Now I realize I can't move my limbs at all, I'm stuck just laying here waiting for the rest of my body to shut down. I hope the children survived, I hope the last thing I did on this world actually means something.

Will Nirvash be okay without me? I am the only one who can ride him.

I wonder what lies at the end, will death hurt even more than dying? Is there something after death like some humans seem to believe? Would that something even allow a being like me in?

So many questions in my head I don't know the answer to, its frustrating but at least it takes focus off the pain.

I can feel my heartbeats becoming slower, and my eyes I have to focus on keeping them open, is this it? Is it finally coming? Do I want it to come? I just don't know.

I'm so tired now maybe it will help if I just sleep for a little while, I can figure out the answers when I wake.


End file.
